The 1995 International Frankfurt Motor Show is one of the biggest autoshows
on the Earth. There was 190000 m2 exhibition are with 1056 exhibitors from 37
countries.
Here I'm focusing on the passenger cars, but there were accessories,
scale-models etc. as well. In July a race was held: "2000 km durch
Deutschland" - 2000 km through Germany. The cars which attended it was also
presented.
One of the competitors:
Fiat 508 Balilla by Ghia
This show was really big: for the members of the press there were Volkswagen Sharans, Ford Galaxys, Mercedes Sprinters with chauffeurs to "ship" 'em from one hall to another. And You was able to rent a bicycle from Ford or a futuristic-lookin' two-wheeler from BMW.
Mercedes truck by Colani. This car was on an outdoor
location.
The new cars from the big manufacturers: like the Renault Megane, Opel Vectra etc. caused big stir and big shows: dancers, singers, actors etc. tried to grab the attention of the public. The guys around Mitsubishi Carisma played a mini musical: at the first scene everyone was dressed in grey and then slowly entered to the "new, colorful world of the Carisma" and got off their grey clothes and became red, blue etc. dressed singers, dancers etc. It was funny.
Frankfurt was carpeted with the announcements that the new Opel Vectra is exhibited at the IAA. Staying at Opel: Ziel Gallery a shopping-center displayed some Opel prototypes on the 7th floor among clothes etc.
Let's see the (I hope) complete A-Z list of passenger car makers: who exhibited and what? Excluded are which didn't show anything great, namely: Alpina, Aston Martin, Bitter, Bugatti, DeTomaso, Excalibur, Ferrari, Lancia, Maserati, Rinspeed, Saier, Strosek, TechArt, TVR, Venturi, Westfield)
Alfa Romeo: German premier of the Spider/GTV. The 2.0 Twin Spark engine is available for the 145. The model is named 145 Quadrifoglio. A 146 version is under debate.
Audi: Although the A3, their small car will be out only
next year, its' coupe version is here and probably will stay. The name is
TT for Tradition and Technik.
Other news: new turbo-diesel for the A4, a 2.8 litre for the A6 and side
airbags and navigation system for the A8. You can read the
short version of
their press release.
BMW: My sub-page features the new 5 (with a picture) and other news.
Brabus: If You're interested in their exhibition go to their section at the tuner's page
Chrysler: European premier of the Voyager, the 1996 Viper and the
Chrysler Sebring cabrio.
Chrysler Sebring cabrio: front view
Chrysler Sebring cabrio: rear view
They brought over the
Atlantic prototype.
Citroën: Finally there's one estate which shape isn't so boring: the Xantia Break.
Daewoo: The South Korean companies like it or hate it are on the loose. So there's a subpage devoted to their news.
Dauer Racing: There You can find two pictures about the fastest road legal car of the world with details.
Daihatsu: They exhibited two prototypes. I have a picture about the "everyday" MPV, the X-1.
Fiat: I took a picture of the Brava which You can download, but here's a link to the official Fiat Bravo/Brava page (although it is enjoyable only with a graphic browser...)
Ford: I have to admit that I liked the Lincoln L2K 2-seater prototype
when I saw it on pictures. Now that I saw it in metal I have to admit that
I like it even better!
Other American prototypes: Ford "SHO-Star", GT90, Ranger Splash pick-up.
On the Fiesta page I placed images about the 4 American prototypes.
European prototype: Galaxy K-2 (picture will be available on the 1st of
October). The normal Galaxy was one of the main attractions, the other the
new Fiesta. One personal remark about the car: I
never imagined Ford can design such an ugly nose.
General Motors North Europe: The latest Corvette along with the other European-spec. models: Pontiac Firebird, Cadillac Seville etc.
Gigliato: Small Japanese sportscar maker with a newly established plant in England. Their sportscar, named Aerosa reached the production status after two-years development of the prototype. Both the prototype and the final, GPS version were exhibited.
Hamann Motorsports: Details and picture about their Ferrari F512M conversion.
HMC: The German distributor of the Healey Mk IV, exhibited a beautiful car. It's the successor the Austin-Healey 3000 Mk III, with an aprroval from the son of Healey.
Honda: I wish Honda would start again naming its cars. There's an Accord for Europe, another for the States (and as the station wagon is imported from USA there's a confusion in Europe) and Japan. The same with the Civic: the new model is the same in Europe and Japan, but the States got a different model. And then I didn't talk about the old-Civic, which is still on-the market.
Hotzenblitz: The tiny German citycar was everywhere, 'cause it was exhibited at the meeeting points and at an outdoor location.
Hyundai: I have only b&w photos about the new Lantra so You have to wait 'til I'll get my hands on color pictures. Then I'll create a Lantra page.
Irmscher: The Opel modifier bought the licence of the VM Seventy- Seven, a German Lotus 7-lookalike and put an Opel engine into it. No big deal.
Jaguar: First look on the Jaguar XJ LWB (aka X330)
Karmann: The Kia Sportage is made by them for the European market. Also the cabriolets which are produced by them: Renault 19, Ford Escort, Volkswagen Golf. In a corner shined two VW Karmann-Ghias. Y' know its their 40th (?) birthday.
Kia: The third biggest Korean car maker displayed a wide rang of cars. For details: Kia at IAA
Lada: German premier of the very sad looking 2110. I don't waste any words to describe it.
Lamborghini: Competition version of the Diablo. Lookin' great, performing not so good.
Lotus:A word which is by now must be familiar to all Lotus lovers: Elise. Romano Artioli's granddaughter became the Muse of the car.
Mayflower Group: More details could be found on the Mayflower page.
Mazda: Two interesting models: Xedos 9 with the Miller-cycle engine and the CU-X, another of those Japanese concept cars which are packed with every kind of futuristic gadgets.
Mercedes: The new E-class was the centerpoint of the five storey
building. The model since its debut in June found 50000 customers around the
world. The Mercedes building (they rented the whole Hall 2) also featured
multimedia show, ice. In the model range for 1996 the SL has been updated.
There were 1:1 models (bodyframes) of the A-class, the
Smart and there was a hint on the Viano.
Two more new models:
Mercedes S600L Pullmann. It's the
lengthened, business version of the W140 (S-class) limousine.
Mercedes E50 by AMG. It's the top model
of the new E-class with 5-liter, 255 kW (345 HP) engine. Max speed is 250 km/h.
Mitsubishi: On the page there are pictures and info about the HSR-V and the Gaus, plus a new engine.
Nissan: They launched the new generation of Japanese family cars
first: in January the Pulsar debuted which became the
Almera in Europe. 'Twas followed by the Toyota Corolla and Honda Civic
respectively. The new Corolla will be in Europe only in 1998.
Nissan also exhibited a new concept car, named CQ-X in addition to their
normal cars.
Opel: On the page: Vectra, Corsa Eco 3, Maxx and a surprise.
Peugeot: There's a page which features 406 specials exhibited at IAA and a link to the factory Peugeot site, the best organized official automotive site I've ever seen.
Porsche: Let's take a look at the new 911 Targa!
Projektzwo: Modified Sharan. It's the new fashion. Oettinger, the other VW tuner, who was not there also did its Sharan.
RAF: People who are experts on the history of the motorcar are aware
of the fact that before the 1st WW there was a Czech car maker, named RAF.
This company is also Czech but there is no connection between the two. The RAF
Mk I is a traditional looking plastic bodied two-seater with 2-liter Ford
Cosworth engine. It was placed right across the Lotus Elise and the
Zender Progetto 5. Didn't have much chance, but the American ambassador
visited the stand and sat in the car. He enjoyed it.
RAF Mk I
From January, 1996 a sole page is also devoted to the
RAF Mk I.
Renault: After the Louis Vuitton Bagatelle Concours at Paris this
was the the second public appearance of the Renault
Initiale. This event should be considered as a world premiere.
For the family car lovers the new Megane meant excitement.
Rolls-Royce: First autoshow of the 1996 range. Smaller radiator, more luxury. Rover: For the first time ever Land-Rover, Rover and BMW shared the same place. The Rover 400 saloon - 1996 was unveiled here. If you wanna see some interesting shots about the MGF check out the Mayflower page!
Saab: For 1996 there's a new engine: Ecopower. "The new intelligent V6 turbo engine".
Seat: For 1996 the boxy Toledo has been rounded a bit and the Ibiza also got curvy. Addition to the line-up is a 2-door Cordoba.
Skoda: A hundred years ago two men: Vaclav Laurin and Vaclav Klement laid the foundation of a company in Mlada Boleslav (Czech Republic) of what was to become Skoda. To commemorate the birthday they exhibited the first Laurin&Klement car produced in small series in 1905. Also there were special Felicia Laurin&Klements. Here's a picture of the Felicia Combi L&K. And here's another picture about a Felicia, this time it's a kit-car, a competitor in the new FIA-sanctioned race series.
SsangYong: I've been informed that they stopped making the Panther cars. The president of the SsangYong group is a big car fan so a few years ago he thought: well, we started to make some 4wd vehicles, but for fun let's get those English Panthers. So he bought the company. But as they're focusing on the all-terrain vehicles, Panther doesn't fit into the range. So good bye Kallista and Solo! For us, Hungarians the big news that SsangYong will have an assembly plant in Hungary to assemble Korandos (Jeep-like vehicles, with Mercedes-licence diesels). In Frankfurt the follow-up to the Korando was shown, named KJ (Korando Jeep) along with the stylish Musso. There were some prototypes from the Seoul Motor Show: Solo III sportscar, CCR-1 electro.
Steinmetz: They're the second biggest Opel modifiers after Irmscher. They exhibited the first Opel Commodore from the '70s which was the racer of Mr. Steinmetz along with their current range.
Stey-Daimler-Puch: The sole Austrian carmaker exhibited the Mercedes G, which
they are assembler of. Also showed some drawings about a new Sport Utility Vehicle
concept. This all-vheel driven vehicle would provide 4- or 5-seats with a length of
approx. 4m and the height of a minivan (max. 1.7 m).
One of the drawings
Also distributed a paper about the 4wd version of the Mercedes E. Production will start
late next year.
Subaru: On the page Subaru Streega and a surprise.
Toyota: Check out the Toyota at IAA page!
Twike: This year saw the start of production of this Swiss-German electrotrike. VolkswagenVolkswagen: Their subpage features the Polo Classic and the Noah.
Volvo: I devoted a sub-page to Volvo. There you can find information about the S4 and also the 850R.
Zender: First there were the Fact concept cars. It was followed by
the Vision 4 and now here's the Progeotto 5 a modified Alfa Romeo Spider.
I scanned the 1 page leaflet to show details. So here's that
picture
. There's no thumbnail. I also scanned another image which was taken at
the show. It's better: 3/4 profile view of the car
zender1.jpg:
front view
zender2.jpg:
rear view
Zlatko: I mentioned this car at my Geneva report. Here's the sole
picture I have (taken in Geneva):
Zlatko Cosmopolit. This is the brainchild of Zlatko Vukusic and was first
presented to the world at the international exhibition "Bologna Motorshow '94".
It's based on the Ferrari 308 GTB, with the engine modified by the Italian
"Toni Auto".
According to their press release which I got at Frankfurt "The Cosmopolit
streamline can be applied to any sort of car, depending on its class, i.e.
how long does it take to become stabilized. There would be no speed limitation
for sports cars. The resistance coefficient is reduced for all classes of cars,
which immediately leads to lower fuel consumption and saved engine power".
According to Autocar this was the ugliest car they ever saw at a Motor Show.
I have other contesters as well ;-). If You want more details: AESV Zlatko,
Split, Velebitska 119, Croatia. Tel/Fax: +385-21-522-788.
